Chai-Spiced Rice Pudding

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Sweet enough for dessert, and healthy enough for breakfast! Yes, “chai tea” is “tea tea”, just as “naan bread” is “bread bread”. But today, we’re going to be using the “tea tea” spices to make this already delicious and healthy dish more delicious and more healthy:

You will need

  • 1 cup wholegrain rice (a medium-length grain is best for the optimal amount of starch to make this creamy but not sticky)
  • 1½ cups milk (we recommend almond milk, but any milk will work)
  • 1 cup full fat coconut milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 Medjool dates, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, drained, and chopped
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup (omit if you prefer less sweetness)
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 2 tsp ground sweet cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp ground cardamom
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ½ ground cloves
  • Optional garnish: berries (your preference what kind)

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Add all of the ingredients except the berries into the cooking vessel* you’re going to use, and stir thoroughly.

*There are several options here and they will take different durations:

  • Pressure cooker: 10 minutes at high pressure (we recommend, if available)
  • Rice cooker: 25 minutes or thereabouts (we recommend only if the above or below aren’t viable options for you)
  • Slow cooker: 3 hours or thereabouts, but you can leave it for 4 if you’re busy (we recommend if you want to “set it and forget it” and have the time; it’s very hard to mess this one up unless you go to extremes)

Options that we don’t recommend:

  • Saucepan: highly variable and you’re going to have to watch and stir it (we don’t recommend this unless the other options aren’t available)
  • Oven: highly variable and you’re going to have to check it frequently (we don’t recommend this unless the other options aren’t available)

2) Cook, using the method you selected from the list.

3) Get ready to serve. Depending on the method, they may be some extra liquid at the top; this can just be stirred into the rest and it will take on the same consistency.

4) Serve in bowls, with a berry garnish if desired:

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

Take care!

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  • Planning Festivities Your Body Won’t Regret

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The Festive Dilemma

    For many, Christmas is approaching. Other holidays abound too, and even for the non-observant, it’d be hard to escape seasonal jollities entirely.

    So, what’s the plan?

    1. Eat, drink, and be merry, and have New Year’s Resolutions for the first few days of January before collapsing in a heap?
    2. Approach the Yuletide with Spartan abstemiousness and miss all the fun while simultaneously annoying your relatives?

    Let’s try to find a third approach instead…

    What’s festive and healthy?

    We’re doing this article this week, because many people will be shopping already, making plans, and so forth. So here are some things to bear in mind:

    Make your own mindful choices

    Coca-Cola company really did a number on Christmas, but it doesn’t mean their product is truly integral to the season. Same goes for many other things that flood the stores around this time of year. So much sugary confectionary! But remember, they’re not the boss of you. If you wouldn’t buy it ordinarily, why are you buying it now? Do you actually even want it?

    If you really do, then you do you, but mindful choices will invariably be healthier than “because there were three additional aisles of confectionary now so I stopped and looked and picked some things”.

    Pick your battles

    If you’re having a big family gathering, likely there will be occasions with few healthy options available. But you can decide what’s most important for you to avoid, perhaps picking a theme, e.g:

    • No alcohol this year, or
    • No processed sugary foods, or
    • Eat/drink whatever, but practice intermittent fasting

    Some resources:

    Fight inflammation

    This is a big one so it deserves its own category. In the season of sugar and alcohol and fatty meat, inflammation can be a big problem to come around and bite us in the behind. We’ve written on this previously:

    Keep Inflammation At Bay

    Positive dieting

    In other words, less of a focus on what to exclude, and more of a focus on what to include in your diet. Fruity drinks and sweets are common at this time of year, but you know what’s also fruity? Fruit!

    And it can be festive, too! Berries are great, and those tiny orange-like fruits that may be called clementines or tangerines or satsumas or, as Aldi would have it, “easy peelers”. Apple and cinnamon are also a great combination that both bring sweetness without needing added sugar.

    And as for mains? Make your salads that bit fancier, get plenty of greens with your main, have hearty soups and strews with lentils and beams!

    See also: Level-Up Your Fiber Intake! (Without Difficulty Or Discomfort)

    Your gut will thank us later!

    Get moving!

    That doesn’t mean you have to beat the New Year rush to the gym (unless you want to!). But it could mean, for example, more time in your walking shoes (or dancing shoes! With a nod to today’s sponsor) and less time in the armchair.

    See also: The doctor who wants us to exercise less; move more

    Lastly…

    Remember it’s supposed to be fun! And being healthy can be a lot more fun than suffering because of unfortunate choices that we come to regret.

    Take care!

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  • Healthy Recipes When There Are A Lot Of Restrictions

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small 😎

    ❝I need to cook for a family event and the combined dietary restrictions are: vegetarian, no lactose, no gluten, no nuts, including peanuts and coconuts, no discernible carbs, including lentils and chickpeas, no garlic or onions, no cabbage, no soup, and it can’t be remotely spicy. The nut allergy is of course absolute and we are vegetarian, the other things may be slightly negotiable but I’d like a stress-free dinner. Ideas?❞

    That is indeed quite restrictive! But a challenge is (almost) always fun.

    To answer generally first: one approach is to do buffet-style dining, with many small dishes. While nuts will still need to be absent, because of the nature of nut allergies, the rest can just be skipped on a per-person basis.

    But, let’s see what we can do with a one-dish-fits-all approach!

    The biggest challenge seems to be getting protein and flavor. Protein options are more limited without meat, lactose, or legumes, and flavor requires some attention without being able to rely on spices.

    To give a sample à la carte menu… With these things in mind, we’ve selected three of our recipes from the recipes section of our site, that will require only minor modifications:

    1) Invigorating Sabzi Khordan: skip the walnuts and either partition or omit the scallions, and ensure the cheese is lactose-free (most supermarkets stock lactose-free cheeses, nowadays).

    With regard to the flatbreads, you can either skip, or use our gluten-free Healthy Homemade Flatbreads recipe, though it does use chickpea flour and quinoa flour, so the “no discernible carbs” person(s) might still want to skip them. If it’s not an issue on the carbs front, then you might also consider, in lieu of one of the more traditional cheeses, using our High-Protein Paneer recipe which, being vegan, is naturally lactose-free. Also, which is not traditional but would work fine, you might want to add cold hard-boiled halved eggs, since the next course will be light on protein:

    2) Speedy Easy Ratatouille: skip the red chili and garlic; that’s all for this one!

    3) Black Forest Chia Pudding: the glycemic index of this should hopefully be sufficient to placate the “no discernible carbs” person(s), but if it’s not, we probably don’t have a keto-friendlier dessert than this. And obviously, when it comes to the garnish of “a few almonds, and/or berries, and/or cherries and/or cacao nibs”, don’t choose the almonds.

    Want to know more?

    For any who might be curious:

    Gluten: What’s The Truth? ← this also discusses the differences between an allergy/intolerance/sensitivity—it’s more than just a matter of severity!

    Take care!

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  • I’m feeling run down. Why am I more likely to get sick? And how can I boost my immune system?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It has been a long winter, filled with many viruses and cost-of-living pressures, on top of the usual mix of work, study, life admin and caring responsibilities.

    Stress is an inevitable part of life. In short bursts, our stress response has evolved as a survival mechanism to help us be more alert in fight or flight situations.

    But when stress is chronic, it weakens the immune system and makes us more vulnerable to illnesses such as the common cold, flu and COVID.

    Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto

    Stress makes it harder to fight off viruses

    When the immune system starts to break down, a virus that would normally have been under control starts to flourish.

    Once you begin to feel sick, the stress response rises, making it harder for the immune system to fight off the disease. You may be sick more often and for longer periods of time, without enough immune cells primed and ready to fight.

    In the 1990s, American psychology professor Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues conducted a number of studies where healthy people were exposed to an upper respiratory infection, through drops of virus placed directly into their nose.

    These participants were then quarantined in a hotel and monitored closely to determine who became ill.

    One of the most important factors predicting who got sick was prolonged psychological stress.

    Cortisol suppresses immunity

    “Short-term stress” is stress that lasts for a period of minutes to hours, while “chronic stress” persists for several hours per day for weeks or months.

    When faced with a perceived threat, psychological or physical, the hypothalamus region of the brain sets off an alarm system. This signals the release of a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.

    Human brain illustration
    The hypothalamus sets off an alarm system in response to a real or perceived threat. stefan3andrei/Shutterstock

    In a typical stress response, cortisol levels quickly increase when stress occurs, and then rapidly drop back to normal once the stress has subsided. In the short term, cortisol suppresses inflammation, to ensure the body has enough energy available to respond to an immediate threat.

    But in the longer term, chronic stress can be harmful. A Harvard University study from 2022 showed that people suffering from psychological distress in the lead up to their COVID infection had a greater chance of experiencing long COVID. They classified this distress as depression, probable anxiety, perceived stress, worry about COVID and loneliness.

    Those suffering distress had close to a 50% greater risk of long COVID compared to other participants. Cortisol has been shown to be high in the most severe cases of COVID.

    Stress causes inflammation

    Inflammation is a short-term reaction to an injury or infection. It is responsible for trafficking immune cells in your body so the right cells are present in the right locations at the right times and at the right levels.

    The immune cells also store a memory of that threat to respond faster and more effectively the next time.

    Initially, circulating immune cells detect and flock to the site of infection. Messenger proteins, known as pro-inflammatory cytokines, are released by immune cells, to signal the danger and recruit help, and our immune system responds to neutralise the threat.

    During this response to the infection, if the immune system produces too much of these inflammatory chemicals, it can trigger symptoms such as nasal congestion and runny nose.

    Man blows nose
    Our immune response can trigger symptoms such as a runny nose. Alyona Mandrik/Shutterstock

    What about chronic stress?

    Chronic stress causes persistently high cortisol secretion, which remains high even in the absence of an immediate stressor.

    The immune system becomes desensitised and unresponsive to this cortisol suppression, increasing low-grade “silent” inflammation and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (the messenger proteins).

    Immune cells become exhausted and start to malfunction. The body loses the ability to turn down the inflammatory response.

    Over time, the immune system changes the way it responds by reprogramming to a “low surveillance mode”. The immune system misses early opportunities to destroy threats, and the process of recovery can take longer.

    So how can you manage your stress?

    We can actively strengthen our immunity and natural defences by managing our stress levels. Rather than letting stress build up, try to address it early and frequently by:

    1) Getting enough sleep

    Getting enough sleep reduces cortisol levels and inflammation. During sleep, the immune system releases cytokines, which help fight infections and inflammation.

    2) Taking regular exercise

    Exercising helps the lymphatic system (which balances bodily fluids as part of the immune system) circulate and allows immune cells to monitor for threats, while sweating flushes toxins. Physical activity also lowers stress hormone levels through the release of positive brain signals.

    3) Eating a healthy diet

    Ensuring your diet contains enough nutrients – such as the B vitamins, and the full breadth of minerals like magnesium, iron and zinc – during times of stress has a positive impact on overall stress levels. Staying hydrated helps the body to flush out toxins.

    4) Socialising and practising meditation or mindfulness

    These activities increase endorphins and serotonin, which improve mood and have anti-inflammatory effects. Breathing exercises and meditation stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms down our stress responses so we can “reset” and reduce cortisol levels.

    Sathana Dushyanthen, Academic Specialist & Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health| Superstar of STEM| Science Communicator, The University of Melbourne

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Can I Eat That? – by Jenefer Roberts

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The answer to the question in the title is: you can eat pretty much anything, if you’re prepared for the consequences!

    This book looks to give you the information to make your own decisions in that regard. There’s a large section on the science of glucose metabolism in the context of food (other aspects of glucose metabolism aren’t covered), so you will not simply be told “raw carrots are good; mashed potatoes are bad”, you’ll understand many factors that affect it, e.g:

    • Macronutrient profiles of food and resultant base glycemic indices
    • How the glycemic index changes if you cut something, crush it, mash it, juice it, etc
    • How the glycemic index changes if you chill something, heat it, fry it, boil it, etc
    • The many “this food works differently in the presence of this other food” factors
    • How your relative level of insulin resistance affects things itself

    …and much more.

    The style is simple and explanatory, without deep science, but with good science and comprehensive advice.

    There are also the promised recipes; they’re in an appendix at the back and aren’t the main meat of the book, though.

    Bottom line: if you’ve ever found it confusing working out what works how in the mysterious world of diabetes nutrition, this book is a top tier demystifier.

    Click here to check out Can I Eat That?, and gain confidence in your food choices!

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  • Makkō-Hō – by Haruka Nagai

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    We’ve all heard the claims, “Fluent in 3 Months!”, “Russian in Two Weeks!”, “Overnight Mandarin Chinese”, “15-Minute Arabic!”, “Instant Italian!”.

    We see the same in the world of health and fitness too. So how does this one’s claim of “five minutes’ physical fitness” hold up?

    Well, it is 5 minutes per day. And indeed, the author writes:

    ❝The total time [to do these exercises], then, is only one minute and thirty seconds. This series I call one round. When it has been completed, execute another complete round. You should find the exercises easier to do the second time. Executed this way, the exercsies will prove very effective, though they take only three minutes in all. After you have leaned back into the final position, you must remain in that posture for one minute. That brings the total time to four minutes. Even when [some small additions] are added, it takes only five minutes at most.❞

    The exercises themselves are from makkō-hō, which is a kind of Japanese dynamic yoga. They involve repetitions of (mostly) moving stretches with good form, and are excellent for mobility and general health, keeping us supple and robust as we get older.

    The text descriptions are clear, as are the diagrams and photos. The language is a little dated, as this book was written in the 1970s, but the techniques themselves are timeless.

    Bottom line: consider it a 5-minute anti-aging regimen. And, as Nagai says, “the person who cannot find 5 minutes out of 24 hours, was never truly interested in their health”.

    Click here to check out Makkō-Hō and schedule your five minutes!

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  • Why the WHO has recommended switching to a healthier salt alternative

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    This week the World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines recommending people switch the regular salt they use at home for substitutes containing less sodium.

    But what exactly are these salt alternatives? And why is the WHO recommending this? Let’s take a look.

    goodbishop/Shutterstock

    A new solution to an old problem

    Advice to eat less salt (sodium chloride) is not new. It has been part of international and Australian guidelines for decades. This is because evidence clearly shows the sodium in salt can harm our health when we eat too much of it.

    Excess sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, which affects millions of Australians (around one in three adults). High blood pressure (hypertension) in turn increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, among other conditions.

    The WHO estimates 1.9 million deaths globally each year can be attributed to eating too much salt.

    The WHO recommends consuming no more than 2g of sodium daily. However people eat on average more than double this, around 4.3g a day.

    In 2013, WHO member states committed to reducing population sodium intake by 30% by 2025. But cutting salt intake has proved very hard. Most countries, including Australia, will not meet the WHO’s goal for reducing sodium intake by 2025. The WHO has since set the same target for 2030.

    The difficulty is that eating less salt means accepting a less salty taste. It also requires changes to established ways of preparing food. This has proved too much to ask of people making food at home, and too much for the food industry.

    A salt shaker spilling onto a table.
    There’s been little progress on efforts to cut sodium intake. snezhana k/Shutterstock

    Enter potassium-enriched salt

    The main lower-sodium salt substitute is called potassium-enriched salt. This is salt where some of the sodium chloride has been replaced with potassium chloride.

    Potassium is an essential mineral, playing a key role in all the body’s functions. The high potassium content of fresh fruit and vegetables is one of the main reasons they’re so good for you. While people are eating more sodium than they should, many don’t get enough potassium.

    The WHO recommends a daily potassium intake of 3.5g, but on the whole, people in most countries consume significantly less than this.

    Potassium-enriched salt benefits our health by cutting the amount of sodium we consume, and increasing the amount of potassium in our diets. Both help to lower blood pressure.

    Switching regular salt for potassium-enriched salt has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and premature death in large trials around the world.

    Modelling studies have projected that population-wide switches to potassium-enriched salt use would prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from cardiovascular disease (such as heart attack and stroke) each year in China and India alone.

    The key advantage of switching rather than cutting salt intake is that potassium-enriched salt can be used as a direct one-for-one swap for regular salt. It looks the same, works for seasoning and in recipes, and most people don’t notice any important difference in taste.

    In the largest trial of potassium-enriched salt to date, more than 90% of people were still using the product after five years.

    A female nurse taking a senior man's blood pressure.
    Excess sodium intake increases the risk of high blood pressure, which can cause a range of health problems. PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

    Making the switch: some challenges

    If fully implemented, this could be one of the most consequential pieces of advice the WHO has ever provided.

    Millions of strokes and heart attacks could be prevented worldwide each year with a simple switch to the way we prepare foods. But there are some obstacles to overcome before we get to this point.

    First, it will be important to balance the benefits and the risks. For example, people with advanced kidney disease don’t handle potassium well and so these products are not suitable for them. This is only a small proportion of the population, but we need to ensure potassium-enriched salt products are labelled with appropriate warnings.

    A key challenge will be making potassium-enriched salt more affordable and accessible. Potassium chloride is more expensive to produce than sodium chloride, and at present, potassium-enriched salt is mostly sold as a niche health product at a premium price.

    If you’re looking for it, salt substitutes may also be called low-sodium salt, potassium salt, heart salt, mineral salt, or sodium-reduced salt.

    A review published in 2021 found low sodium salts were marketed in only 47 countries, mostly high-income ones. Prices ranged from the same as regular salt to almost 15 times higher.

    An expanded supply chain that produces much more food-grade potassium chloride will be needed to enable wider availability of the product. And we’ll need to see potassium-enriched salt on the shelves next to regular salt so it’s easy for people to find.

    In countries like Australia, about 80% of the salt we eat comes from processed foods. The WHO guideline falls short by not explicitly prioritising a switch for the salt used in food manufacturing.

    Stakeholders working with government to encourage food industry uptake will be essential for maximising the health benefits.

    Xiaoyue (Luna) Xu, Scientia Lecturer, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney and Bruce Neal, Executive Director, George Institute Australia, George Institute for Global Health

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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